₦airaland Forum

"WHAT HAS FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL DONE FOR THE COMMON MAN?" is an unintelligent take, and so is "FUEL SUBSIDY IS THE ONLY THING WE ENJOY FROM THE GOVERNMENT."

Whenever I see these opinions on social media, and they are very common nowadays since Mr. Atiku Abubakar said he will bring back fuel subsidy, I realize that many Nigerians do not understand the effect policies have on their daily lives, or the connection between decisions made in Abuja and their everyday experiences. I understand why Oga Atiku made that promise, and I understand why his men, people like Mr. Dele Momodu and Mr. Paul Ibe, are supporting it. Mr. Atiku wants to be president, and Mr. Dele and company want ministerial appointments. But we must not allow politicians to derail our progress on the altar of their ambitions.

Some Nigerians claim, unintelligently, that we have benefitted nothing from fuel subsidy removal. I find that very hard to understand. What do you mean we have benefitted nothing? What about the increased investments in infrastructure? What about the increased allocations to state governments? Your governor now has more money to spend, hold him accountable and ask him to invest in your state. What about the spending spree our military has been on, buying weapons, jets, drones, all to deal with terrorists? What about the increase in foreign direct investment? More refineries and oil fields are coming online within the next few years. These projects are securing our energy needs and will employ thousands of Nigerian youths. Do you think investors will commit billions of dollars if they cannot set the price themselves in a sector riddled with corruption? If you think they will, ask yourselves why there are very few, if any, privately funded power plants coming online within the next few years. I’ll give you a hint: electricity subsidy. Do you think the disappearance of queues in our filling stations was a coincidence? If we still had fuel subsidy, trade and movement would have been grounded by the Iranian war. I can still remember pre‑2023, when a politician coughing on the other side of the world would close our filling stations and send fuel prices skyrocketing. I can still remember, even if you can’t. And I also remember you people writing opinion pieces, murmuring that if only we had removed fuel subsidy in 2012, we would not be experiencing such hardship now. I can still remember, even if politics has made you forget. There is stability — and dare I say, growth — in our energy sector. Let’s not ruin it.

Fuel subsidy is gone, and we have paid the price for it. Let’s move forward. Nigerians deserve more than cheap fuel from our government. We deserve good infrastructure, good healthcare, security, and strong social safety nets. And we cannot have all of these if we spend billions of dollars we do not have subsidizing fuel for West Africa. We deserve nice things. I deserve nice things.

My name is Alaghodaro, and I want the best for Nigeria.

So what exactly do you propose that can be more impactful than cheaper fuel? I want to convey your answer to the man in this video.

Again, SUBSIDY MUST RETURN. pic.twitter.com/c6XS3kFytT

— Oluwaseun Ajede (@oluwaseun_ajede) August 20, 2026

If Atiku is mistakenly elected by the time he exhaust the reserve under the guise of paying subsidy.

Nigerians should prepare for $1=$5000 naira. (Poverty promax)

Atiku is 80 yrs and he has nothing to lose.

AMINDA:
So what exactly do you propose that can be more impactful than cheaper fuel? I want to convey your answer to the man in this video.

You can read the second to last paragraph, you'll find my answer there. We need to move beyond "give me make I chop" politics.

Thiefobi1:
If Atiku is mistakenly elected by the time he exhaust the reserve under the guise of paying subsidy.

Nigerians should prepare for $1=$5000 naira. (Poverty promax)

Atiku is 80 yrs and he has nothing to lose.

Exactly 💯. These people don't understand what there are clamouring for.

Thiefobi1:
If Atiku is mistakenly elected by the time he exhaust the reserve under the guise of paying subsidy.

Nigerians should prepare for $1=$5000 naira. (Poverty promax)

Atiku is 80 yrs and he has nothing to lose.

No subsidy, but Tinubu’s government has borrowed more than any previous government that actually paid a subsidy.

Ofunaofu:
No subsidy, but Tinubu’s government has borrowed more than any previous government that actually paid a subsidy.

Because the debts incurred in the past in part from paying subsidies and also from oil prices being below budget benchmarks have to be paid, which eats our revenue leading ironically to more borrowing.

Maybe Tinubu should have supported subsidy removal in 2012 eh? Ditto Buhari.

Subsidy cabals destroyed our economy
TBH an average Nigerian benefits less from subsidy

NSNO:
You can read the second to last paragraph, you'll find my answer there. We need to move beyond "give me make I chop" politics.

Òrìṣà bí ìfún kò sí, oòjọ́ ni gbẹ́b. Translation; There is no god like one's stomach, we must sacrifice to it every day. The stomach has no religion, it worships whoever feeds it. We cannot move away from "give me make I chop" politics. People are literally starving.